Wakefield High School - Oracle Yearbook (Wakefield, MA)

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BEETHOVEN MENDELSSOHN Does it not seem strange that two persons who were brought up in so different an at- tnosphere as were Beethoven and Mendelssohn, should both follow the same line of work and become so famous? Beethoven was born in Germany, and from the first, life was hard for him. When he was scarcely more than four years old, his father, thinking the child might help him earn a living if he could teach, began giving him les- sons on the piano. He was made to practice manj ' hours every day, and when, in addition to the piano, he took up the violin, he prac- ticed almost all the time except when he was at school or asleep. It probably seems strange to some of us, but the more Beethoven prac- ticed, the more he liked it; and that, I think, is the secret of his success. Felix Mendelssohn, on the contrary, had a very happy childhood. His father was a banker, and they lived in a beautiful home, also in Germany. Although Felix started to study music when he was only three, he had plenty of time for enjoying childish pleas- ures. He showed indications of original genius earlier than Beethoven, and, when still a child, composed many beautiful pieces; in fact, many of them are famous now. When these young musicians grew up, al- though Mendelssohn lived a quarter of a cen- tury later than Beethoven, they both had much the same sort of experiences: they played for the great musicians of their time; played in the halls of royalty; played in pub- lic houses of the different towns they traveled in, and everywhere won recognition. Wlien Beethoven was about thirty, a great misfortune befell him; he realized that he was becoming deaf. He tried everything to cure this deafness, but in vain. As the years lengthened and his misfortune increased, he began to look forward solely to the writing of music; then he could hear the tones in his mind if not with his ears. As a result of this deafness, he became slack in his manner of dress, and the manuscript on which his compositions were written was often covered with blotches of ink. Fortu- nately, however, this did not do any harm to his playing and composing. Mendelssohn also had a great sorrow in his life — the death of his lieloved sister, Fanny, who, in his childhood, had heljied him master his lessons, and who, when he grew up, be- came liis constant companion. He was heart- broken over this loss, and it seems to me that he showed his appreciation of her kind- ness best by writing some of his most beauti- ful compositions while mourning for her. Both Beethoven and Mendelssohn died when they were still young. Although it was proph- esied many times during their lives that they would become great, no one knows so well as we, who live now, how great they really were. • JOSEPHINE SPEEO, ' 29. THE WAKEFIELD ROTARY CLUB BOYS ' BAND A while ago, following the example set by other Eotary Clubs, the Wakefield Rotary men started a fund to buy instruments and pro- vide a leader for boys interested in music and having some musical ability. The following instruments were bought to start with: one piccolo, ten clarinets, four saxophones, eight trumpets, five cornets, four altos, one bari- tone, five trombones, two basses, five snare drums, and a bass drum and cymbals. Mr. T. D. Perkins, a band master of forty years ' experience, was chosen as the leader of the brasses and drums. Mr. Perkins has coached tlie Framingham Rotary Club Boys ' Band, the Lawrence Rotary Clul) Boys ' Band, and others. He has also had much experience with high school bands, and he instructs eight or nine of these organizations each week. Mr. Perkins comes to Wakefield every Thurs- day. In the afternoon he gives the boys in- dividual instruction and in the evening they play ensemble. He has every piece so well in mind that he uses no music and thus can pay more attention to the boys. A visitor at re- hearsals is impressed with the fact that he can single out a boy who is playing wrong, and can take tlie instrument himself and plaj ' the selection properly. He keeps strict disci- pline among the players because he is liked so well by them. Mr. Sonderegga of Boston was engaged as Mr. Perkins ' assistant, to in- struct the boys playing the wood winds and gives similarly excellent training to that part of tlic band. On Decomlier 2, 1926, eighty-two boys en- rolled and on December 10, after careful ob- servation, twenty boys were finally selected and given instruments. Many other boj ' s pro- vide their own instruments and attend the rehearsals for the sake of the fine instruction, if a boy shows that he is not practising enough and is inattentive, his instrument is taken away and given to a more deserving boy. Those who own their instruments must also pay due attention or they are asked to 12

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brie, ' has been tampered with until now we si.ould be ashamed to associate it with angels. The same is true of Liebestraum ( Love ' s i ' ream ). Both of these pieces once expressed tue love and struggle of the composers for iuvir art; but now imitators feel no compunc- i.on in sacrificing art to jazz . FRANCES L. SPERO, ' 27. THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN MUSIC The first music in America was played and sung by the Indians. They did not have stringed instruments or horns, their chief instruments being a large drum and tom-toms. Their singing, merely a jumble of songs and war-whoops, was usually done while dancing around a fire or a captive. All this was prac- ticed before a battle or after a victory, out of respect for the sun, moon, or stars on all fes- tive occasions, or in memory of a chief or of the tribe. When the white men came to America, they brought their songs from Europe. From Quebec to New Orleans, folk-songs floated down the Mississippi ; and in Salem and Bos- ton, the Puritans sang psalms; while the rough trappers and woodsmen sang ballads, such as Sally in Our Alley. With the W ar of Independence, our land was filled with the shrill voice of the fife and the tattoo of the snare-drum. When the Brit- ish troops marched into Lexington, they played tunes as accompaniment to songs jeering the patriots and the cause for which they stood. It was in this war that Yankee Doodle was introduced, and the birth of American Inde- pendence marked the beginning of the Ameri- can music that lives to the present day. New Orleans had opera as early as 1791, and The Beggar ' s Opera was given in New York in 1750. In 1848, some German musi- cians were driven out of tlie country; and as many of them came to America, they helped to develop music in this country. Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) was one of the first to create purely American folk- songs. David W. Guion gave us Turkey in the Straw and Sheep and Goat. We now have cowboy songs and songs of the Western Indians, idealized; as in Charles Wakefield Cadman ' s The Land of the Sky-Blue Waters, and other melodies of the same type. Arthur Farwell composed famous piano pieces, such as American Indian Melodies and Pawnee Horses. Masters of orchestral writing pt - sented the swing and glow of the negro dances of old New Orleans: Henry Gilbert has given us American Dances, Negro Rhap- sody, and The Dance in Place Congo ; Dvorak wrote the New World Symphony. The Puritan spirit of old New England is ex- pressed in Edgar Stillman Kelly ' s New England Symphony. John Powell, the com- poser of piano and violin music, wrote Sonata Virginiaesque and In the South, which give expression to the feeling of the South before the Civil War. Giving a musical soul to Longfellow ' s poem, Coleridge-Taylor and Frederick Burton composed noble Hiawatha. At the present time, the people seem to be divided into two groups in respect to modern music. There are those who do not care for jazz , claiming that it is a move back into the jungle and that the musical standard is being lowered considerably. Then there are those who approve of jazz and say that it is interesting, because it is the expression in music of the hurry and restlessness of Ameri- can city life. ROBERT MACDONALD, ' 27. SAN MALO Recently, at Symphony Hall, I had the op- portunity of hearing a new artist of the vio- lin. Alfredo San Malo, who is part Dutch, and part French, has a quiet, unaffected demeanor. He is deliberate and dignified, but, like most Hollanders, is not graceful. San Malo ' s playing seems to be of the Ysaye school. His technique is faultless and is even amazing. His tone is broad and has a warmth not often obtained by great technicians. His interpretation is logical and violinistic. He does not go to extremes; he does not attempt to improve upon compositions which are al- ready masterpieces. His interpretation is not impeded by amazing stunts or feats of violin acrobatics. At the conclusion of his program, an enthu- siastic audience recalled him to play five en- cores. It is unusual for a performer to be recalled five times at an evening concert in Symphony Hall. The writer missed his train, but he would have listened to San Malo all through the night and never have given a thought to the mere question of home-going. BOIT BRANNEN, ' 28. 11

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withdraw. Forty-six boys are enrolled as members of the band. They range from nine years of age to seventeen years. Mr. Perkins prefers to get young boys because he can do more with them and can keep them in the band longer. On February 3, the whole band played to- gether for the first time, and after only three rehearsals they made a fine appearance before the public on February 18. The audience was very favorably impressed with the boys ' per- formance and there were many comments on the notable progress made in so short a time. The Framingham Rotary Club Boys ' Band also played. They sliowed remarkable talent and the result of Mr. Perkins ' training was very evident. The Band Committee comprising Mr. H. 11. Hovey, secretary; Mr. A. K. Comins, and Dr. E. A. Fessenden, plan to provide uniforms for the boys as other Rotary Club Boys ' Bands almost always have uniforms. The Rotary Club in general and the Band Committee in particular, are deserving of mucli credit for the work they have accom- plished. The large attendance at rehearsals is proof of the boys ' enthusiasm, and the prog- ress already made clearly demonstrates what an opportunity of this sort can do for boys possessed of musical ability. ISABEL L. ATWELL, ' 27. THE FIRST FALL OF SNOW Come, boys and girls, and gather round. And I will tell to you A funny little fairy-tale That some folks say is true! It happend up in Cloudland, once Upon a frosty night, A 1)and of little fairy folk Began a pillow fight! They thi-ew the pillows all about In riotous fairy fun. In much the same way, boys and girls. As you, no doubt, have done. And fierce and fiercer grew the fight. Till all at once — r-r-rip! Tht sc pudgy little pillowkins Just split from .tip to tip! And lo, a million feathery flakes Fell down on earth below! And that, dear boys and girls, was called The first fall of the snow! MARY BONFANTI, ' 30. THE HALFWAY HOUSE Just beyond the bend of Winter, Where you hear the robins sing, .lust before you get to Summer, Is the Half-way House of Spring. It ' s a House that lovers cherish ; It ' s a place where dreamers dream ; It ' s an atmosphere where poets Find Romance on every stream. Oh ! how often we would linger Where we hear the robins sing, Just around the bend of Winter In the Half-way House of Spring. DOROTHY DOUCETTE, ' 28. SPRING While walking through the fields that day All living things just seem to say, ' Tis Spring! I watched a bird his course a ' winging, Whose song came down in gladness ringing; ' Tis Spring! A woodchuck from his home crawled out And mumljled as he clumped about, ' Tis Spring! A rab))it came and did not flee, But said in rabbit talk to me, ' Tis Spring! The flowers decked in colors gay. With nodding heads all sang the lay ' Tis Spring! And everything for miles about Was happy for without a doubt ' Twas Spring! STEPHEN ROGERS, ' 30. NOX Est iam nox; curru vectatur Diana argenti, Nubes avia per stellati caeli expellens. Luce coruscant fluetus lunae alte trepidantes, Astra sues ignes caeli atro ab velo ostendunt, Quaeque avis in nido parva tranquille quiescit. Non crepitum praeter sonitus arborum auditur Et leniter oram in strepitus tundentium Per muta auditur stellati undarum noetis. Mox Lucifer languidam colore Auroram inducit Et nox languescit leniter diluculo adventu. EUTH GERSmOVITCH, ' 27, 13